Football: Harry Kane's scoring record could be one of many

Harry Kane has scored 53 goals this year. Photo / AP

Harry Kane will aim to become the highest scorer in a calendar year in English Premier League history — one of many records the Tottenham striker looks capable of setting.

His hat-trick in Sunday's 3-0 win at Burnley saw him draw level with Alan Shearer, who notched 36 goals Premier League goals for Blackburn in 1995. If Kane can score when Spurs host Southampton at Wembley in Wednesday's early game, the record will be his alone — and Shearer is backing him to pull it off.

Kane has scored 53 times for club and country this year. In addition to his league goals, he's also netted six in this season's Champions League and four in last season's FA Cup for Tottenham, plus seven for England.

Those 53 goals leave him just one behind Barcelona's Lionel Messi in 2017, and level with Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski, Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and Paris Saint-Germain's Edinson Cavani. But unlike the rest, Kane still has one more game to play this year.

Next in Kane's sights could be the record for most goals in a 38-game Premier League season — 31 — held by Shearer (1995-96), Ronaldo (2007-08) and Luis Suarez (2013-14). At the season's halfway mark, Kane's 15 goals have him leading the Golden Boot standings, level with Liverpool's Mohamed Salah.

Kane is bidding to become just the third Premier League player to complete a Golden Boot hat-trick, following in the footsteps of Shearer (1994-97) and Thierry Henry (2003-06).

Unlike the past two seasons, when Spurs challenged strongly for the title, the club's league form has dipped this season but Kane remains as prolific as ever.

What sets him apart already from the best strikers ever seen in the Premier League is his scoring rate. When he topped last season's goal standings with 29 in 30 games, his scoring rate of 0.97 was the highest achieved by any Golden Boot winner in the league's 25-year history.

Since scoring in his first league start for Spurs in a 5-1 win over Sunderland on April 7, 2014, Kane has netted 93 Premier League goals in 131 games, a scoring rate of 0.71.

That rate is higher than any of the 26 men who have scored 100-plus Premier League goals. The best among those players is 0.68, achieved by Henry and Sergio Aguero, followed by Shearer on 0.59.

Shearer is the highest scorer in Premier League history with 260 goals, well clear of second-placed Wayne Rooney's 208. That mark is a long way off for Kane, but aged 24, few would be surprised if he goes on to surpass that ultimate milestone as well.

Most Premier League goals in a calendar year

36: Harry Kane (Tottenham) 2017
36: Alan Shearer (Blackburn) 1995
35: Robin van Persie (Arsenal) 2011
34: Thierry Henry (Arsenal) 2004
30: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester Utd) 2003
30: Les Ferdinand (QPR, Newcastle) 1995
30: Alan Shearer (Blackburn) 1994